Saturday, 9 May 2009

Sunny and Bright FOTD

Today was rainy and the wind almost took my hair off. But since I went to have Mother's Day lunch a day early and because my beloved best friend Jenni got proposed to her boyfriend, I decided to go against all odds and create a bright look. So I grabbed Lime Crime's Circus Girl which is a bright super-yellow shade. I just love it. I haven't been a fan of yellows but I think that's because drugstore yellows are so watered down. This is REAL YELLOW. I also used an orange shade (Fyrinnae's Chlorophyll) and sweet pink (Lime Crime' Poodle Pink).

Sunny and Bright FOTD

Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss Foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan (two layers)
Meow Cosmetics Concealer in Inquisitive Chausie (on blemishes)
Meow Cosmetics Crystalline Cat Glow Powder in Quartz (on cheekbones, brows, nose and chin)
FaceFront Cosmetics Cheek Up Blush in Buenos Aires
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer on upper lids)
Lime Crime eyeshadow in Circus Girl (all over upper lids)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Chlorophyll (outer vee and crease)
Lime Crime eyeshadow in Poodle Pink (lower lids)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (uppe lashline)
Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara in Black
Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Visual Kei



I love these colours together! I think they compliment my eyes, although I say it myself. If you have greenish eyes, Circus Girl is definitely worth a go. As you can see in this photo, my allergies are causing my eyes to water :(

I love how nicely Circus Girl and Chlorophyll blend in together. They both have a gorgeous sheen to them. Even my dad (who knows nothing about makeup and usually just shrugs his shoulders when I ask for his opinion) commented how lovely my eyes looked.


Oooh, pouty :P Visual Kei is such a bright pink. I'm such a fan of Fyrinnae's Lip Lustres. Although I have made some very bad colour choices (I bought some very cool lavender shades that made me look beyond dead), the formula is very good. I have chapped lips and Lip Lustre on its own keep my puckers soft and moisturized.


Look at my eyes, don't those eyeshadows just make them sparkle? This photo actually shows that I have a difficult bone structure. I've started to work on how I can create illusions with makeup to sculpt it a bit. I usually take pictures of the left side of my face because I've noticed that it's clearly my better side. The things you notice when you post pictures of your face on near-regular intervals :P

I managed to grab a lippie from MAC's A Rose Romance Collection (which on sale in Finland NOW). I chose the shade A Rose Romance. It's the sort of cool pink that looks very flattering on many girls, I think. I'm going to post some pics soon.

Congrats on Jenni and Santtu getting engaged! Guess who's going to be the makeup artist for the wedding... ;)

What do you think of this brighter look? Do you use yellow eyeshadows?

Friday, 8 May 2009

Something Wicked This Way Comes FOTD

Today I went to celebrate my two nephews' birthdays. I was going to do a soft look with pink and lavender and such but then I decided to go in the exact opposite direction. I wanted to do something couture-ish. Yesterday the mail man brought me MAC's Goldyrocks dazzleglass I had bought in eBay so I wanted to incorporate that in my look, too.

My look turned out quite fierce so I decided to name it 'Something wicked this way comes'. The look is a bit Egyptian but without the golden tanned skin so I couldn't use that theme.

Something Wicked This Way Comes FOTD

Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss Foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan (two layers)

Meow Cosmetics Concealer in Inquisitive Chausie (to cover up blemishes)

Meow Cosmetics Top Cat Finishing Powder (as a finishing powder all over face)

Meow Cosmetics Lush Blush in Kiss-and-Tell

Meow Cosmetics Crystalline Cat Glow Powder in Quartz (on cheekbones, nose, upper lip and chin)

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer on upper lids)

Lime Crime eyeshadow in Nymph (all over upper eyelid, up to brows)

Heavenly Naturals eyeshadow in Fairytale (between the 'wings')

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (as a liner on upper and lower lashline)

Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara in Black

MAC Dazzleglass in Goldyrocks


So I lined my upper lid so that instead of following the actual lashline until the end, I draw a wing upwards. Then I did the same with lower lashline. I filled the space between these two lines with Fairytale. I chose Fairytale because although Nymph looks like golden off-white, it has a greenish shimmer to it.

Here you can see the exquisite shimmer of Nymph. I took this photo inside (the one above was taken out in sunlight) so you could see how lovely and satiny Nymph looks. You can also see the golden and green shimmer I was talking about.

Yeah, I know it's a strong look for kids' birthday party but I've noticed that children aren't as easily intimidated by strong makeup (ok, maybe the very extreme and scary ones that are used for theatre and such). No one asked me questions, like "why have you painted your face like that?" or anything. And no one started crying :D

I wish I had put some Shadow Insurance under Fairytale but I completely forgot because I haven't done anything like this ever. So next time I have to remember that. I think this look is totally cool and depending on what kind of colour you're wearing between the lines, you can transform this from cool to dramatic. I'm thinking about trying this with very vibrant purple for a night out clubbing.

BTW, Goldyrocks is a lovely colour. The problem with Dazzleglasses is that they are extremely painful to photograph: the shimmer and sparkle just doesn't show up. Goldyrocks looks lemony golden in the tube but on lips you can only see the sparkle. I like it still :) Goldyrocks is a limited edition shade so if you're interested, I'd say you should grab it sooner rather than later.

So what do you think?

Thursday, 7 May 2009

The She Space FOTD

Just a short post before I'm off to work.

Yesterday I realized that I haven't yet posted a look using The She Space samples I ordered - yet I made a post about the grab bag thing. Silly me. So I went ahead and swatched my samples and picked four colours I wanted to use together. The colours I chose were Funky Chicken, Living in Motion, Grooving Guppy and After the Kiss.

These are my descriptions of the TSS shades mentioned:

Funky Chicken: near matte light yellow.
Living in Motion: frosty mint green.
Grooving Guppy: shimmering aqua.
After the Kiss: matte lavender.

The She Space FOTD

Meow Cosmetics Top Cat Finishing Powder (as a primer and as a finishing powder)
Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss Foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan (two layers)
Meow Cosmetics Concealer in Inquisitive Chausie
FaceFront Cosmetics Cheek Up Blush in Buenos Aires
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer on upper lids)
The She Space eyeshadow in Funky Chicken (on 1/3 of the inner upper lid plus inner corner)
The She Space eyeshadow in Living in Motion (2/3 of the upper lid)
The She Space eyeshadow in Grooving Guppy (outer vee and crease)
The She Space eyeshadow in After the Kiss (lower lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Shinkirou (as a higlighter below brows)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (upper lashline)
Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara in Black
MAC lip tint in Popster (from Hello Kitty Collection)


I really like how the colours are easy to blend. Living in Motion and Grooving Guppy go together like best friends. The main grief is that the colours are quite hard to build up because they aren't all quite vibrant enough. For example, you can barely see After the Kiss on my lower lashline and I did a pretty heavy handed job there.

And this is TSS at it's best. The colours blend well even without any blending skills.


I really like Grooving Guppy. It's the most vibrant colour of these four, followed by Living in Motion. I usually don't wear aqua but this shade was too cute to pass! The funny thing about this photo is that it looks like the yellow and green shades I've used match my eyes! *lol*



As you can see, I'm pleased with the look. I took these pics just after six in the morning so I may look a bit tired!

I hate to admit this but I really love Facefront's Buenos Aires blush. I don't like FaceFront as a company but they do come up with gems like this blush. I haven't been able to found a dupe. The blush looks very frightening on the jar (screaming pinkish peach with gold shimmer) but on cheeks it's just radiant.

The She Space has some gems, too, but the problem is inconsistency. Some of the colours barely show up on my skin (and I'm basically as white as a sheet) and some are really great. Some of the makeup companies I order from have better consistency and I have no problems with buying full sizes without sampling (like Aromaleigh, Fyrinnae, Heavenly Naturals) but The She Space makes me a bit nervous. Their shipping takes long and when I got 20 samples, 7 of them were just no good in terms of vibrancy. That's an alarming ratio. I know, I know, I just bought a grab bag from them but I consider that as giving The she Space another opportunity to prove themselves to me. If it doesn't work out, I may not order again, not even samples.

Have you tried any pigments from The She Space? What do you think about them? And what do you think about my look? :)

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

When you don't know what is coming...

The She Space is having a grab bag deal of their limited edition collections. Although I was initially disappointed with The She Space, I found myself wearing their 'Crack the Whip' eyeshadow four times in two weeks.

So I'm now waiting for my 5 piece Storypeople grab bag. I chose Storypeople because the colours looked very vibrant and summery. No beiges and moody greens/purples for me this time, no sirree.

Of course I don't know what I'm getting nor can I choose the colours but I decided to jot down the colours I would like to have. When I get the grab bag, I'll let you know if any of my wishes came true.

-Necessary Laughter: Sunset lemon with a bronze halo
-Vampires Tap Dancing: Intense melon berry with a bit of hot pink
-Leprechaun Scandal: Lemon lime green pearl
-Feathers and Crayons: Bold aqua with hints of turquoise
-Unicorns in Love: Vivid metallic purple berry shimmer

Now we just have to wait.

If you're interested in this grab bag deal, just click here: http://www.theshespace.com/limitededitiongrabbag.html

Saturday, 2 May 2009

Heavenly Naturals: Cupcake + Fairytale +Coutour FOTD

I noticed how I've done lighter looks a lot lately. The reason for this is that I'm very allergic to birch pollen and now it's like birch pollen party extravaganza going on. So I do lighter looks because most of the time my eye makeup starts running after half an hour.

I did my look using Heavenly Naturals, partly because I already did swatches and review and wanted to show how the colours look on me. I chose Cupcake, Fairytale and Coutour because I wanted to do something sweet but with a little twist.

Cupcake +Fairytale + Coutour FOTD

Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan
Meow Cosmetics concealer in Inquisitive Chausie
Meow Cosmetics Top Cat finishing powder (as a primer AND as a finishing powder)
Fyrinnae Blush in Enrapture
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer on upper lids)
Heavenly Naturals eyeshadow in Cupcake (inner half of upper lid)
Heavenly Naturals eyeshadow in Fairytale (outer half of upper lid, outer vee and crease)
Heavenly Naturals eyeshadow in Coutour (lower lash line)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (upper lashline)
Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara in Black
Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Visual Kei




I love Fairytale. It's very layerable colour and such a pretty green. I can't wait to use it wet as I'm almost positive that it will look unbelievably gorgeous. Coutour is a lovely golden colour (you can barely see it here but it gives a nice glow), very usable although it looks very strong in the swatches.



Visual kei is a lovely pink lippie, I love it.

Sorry for the short post, I need to go for a walk! I hope you like the look (although my eyes look a bit puffy) :)

Heavenly Naturals: swatches and a review


After reading xsparkage's glowing review about Heavenly Naturals I decided to have a go at them myself. Heavenly Naturals sell a variety of beauty products but I've concentrated on eyeshadows.
Pigments
I really like the smoothness of the pigments. Some of them are more sheer than others but overall I'm not diappointed so far. For those who don't like shimmer, there are several matte shadows to choose from. The mattes blend easily and there was no clumping like there sometimes is with matte pigments.
Colours
Well, you won't be disappointed with Heavenly Naturals' range of shades! Ok, there are not as many to choose from as there is with Fyrinnae or Aromaleigh but I dare you to say that you can't find anything you would like. There are reds, pinks, aquas, purples, oranges, yellows, nudes, whites, blacks... Something for everyone.
Shipping costs

As someone who doesn't live in the US, I always look at the shipping costs. That's partially why Fyrinnae has become such a staple for me. Heavenly Naturals offer international shipping at very affordable prices. I hate companies that charge me $15 for shipping and when that package arrives, I notice that the actual cost of shipping has been $3-$5. Heavenly Naturals doesn't charge you outrageous prices for putting the stuff on an envelope. The shipping costs were somewhere around $3.
Customer Service

I had a problem with my order. I received a wrong eyeshadow due to a glitch on the website. I e-mailed René and received an answer in two days. The problem was fixed instantly and with friendliness. They must be a bit swamped with orders after xsparkage's posting so I understand why I had to wait for two days. Plus that's not bad. There are companies that haven't answered me until I started getting really angry (I'm looking at you FaceFront).
Website
Okay, I'm such a language police and there are a lot of spelling mistakes. Also, individual samples are only available with certain colours, otherwise you have to do a package deal (which is not entirely bad). But mostly you can find the stuff you're looking for. I hope René will find the time to list the shadows according to colours because that would be very helpful.
In all, I give Heavenly Naturals an excellent grade. One has to remember that they are a small company and that brings some limitations. But the key points (product quality, shipping costs and customer service) were all right on.
I advice you to order samples first and then go for full sizes.
Finally, some swatches of the colours I have :) (I've used Too Faced Shadow Insurance as primer)


1st row from the top (from left to right): Cupcake, Baby Doll, Demure, Sacrifice
2nd row (from left to right): Daddy's Girl, Sleeping Beauty, Persuasion, Diva
3rd row (from left to right): Lemy-Lime, Fairytale, Panic, Fantasy
This pic was taken outside in direct sunlight. The shimmer is way more sparkly in direct sunlight, it's exquisite!



Same colours inside in sunlight. The difference in shimmer is noticeable when compared to the photo taken outside.



1st row (from left to right): Vanilla Crush, Bashful, Chocolate Brown
2nd row (from left to right): Fierce, Coutour, Ransom
This was also taken outside in direct sunlight. Look at all the shimmery goodness!


Same colours, picture taken inside in sunlight.


Is there some colours that I think are a must-have? Yes. If you love purples, you need Diva. Dady's Girl is lovely too but if you have MAC's Stars N' Rockets, it's almost a dupe. If you are a sucker for greens then I'd recommend getting Fairytale because it's a gorgeous golden green. For nude lovers, Bashful is a good choice. If pink is more your cup of tea, Cupcake should be on your list. If you want something out of the ordinary, check out Coutour and Ransom.
I really love Heavenly Naturals' mattes. Demure is almost like MAC's Yogurt,Vanilla Crush is a lovely off-white shade and Chocolate Brown is, well, chocolate brown :)
Heavenly Naturals has a spring collection called Spring Dollface. Vanilla Crush, Demure, Chocolate Brown, Bashful, Baby Doll and Fairytale are all from that collection.
So what do you think? Will you be sampling Heavenly Naturals?

Photographic evidence that I can be a real girl too... :)

Okay, I didn't have time to post my May Day's Eve look on Thursday. May Day's Eve (and May Day) are a cause of a big celebration here. It's the time for students and workers to celebrate and usually dress up in silly costumes (like bumblebees). Balloons are THE thing, too. And champagne/sparkling wine. We had our own May Day's Eve party at our place. We had invited a few friends to come over for a couple of drinks. I didn't want to dress up as a bumblebee (those stripes do nothing for my hips) but I wanted to use bright colours and my new skirt.


For eyes I used Heavenly Naturals. Baby Doll on inner corners, Daddy's Girl in the middle, Diva in the outer vee and crease and I lined the bottom lash line with Fantasy. It looked very fresh (sorry I don't have better pictures) and I was really happy with the look in general.


This is what you have been waiting for, right? A picture of me wearing THE skirt. I got so many compliments at work (yes, I had worn it the previous day at work) and people were thinking that it had been especially designed for me. I could almost feel my head getting bigger :D

So there you have it!